Determining your responsibilities when you believea colleague may have behaved unethically.

BY REBECCA A. CLAYIf you saw another psychologist do something that appeared unethical, would you know how to respond? Many psychologists don’t, says Beth KaplanWestbrook, PsyD, co-chair of APA’s Advisory Committeeon Colleague Assistance (ACCA) and a private practitionerin Portland, Ore. They may be unsure about laws in theirstate and how those laws interact with APA’s Ethics Code.

They may lack the information they need. Or they may benervous about the liability issues that could arise, eitherfrom reporting a colleague or failing to do so.

ACCA is working to make sure psychologists are
clear about how to react when a colleague needs help. In
addition to creating a series of online resources, the group
is urging state, provincial and territorial psychological
associations (SPTAs) to create colleague assistance
programs that can stop problems before they become
crises.

“Health professionals aren’t immune from the same
problems that affect the general public,” says Westbrook,
citing as examples substance abuse and mental health
disorders. “ACCA’s main purpose is not only to help
people get the treatment they need, but also to focus
on prevention — to have programs in place so that
psychologists can seek help or refer colleagues as problems
arise.”

A state-by-state basis

According to APA’s Ethics Code, psychologists who believe
another psychologist may have committed an ethical
violation should first try an informal resolution. As long
as it seems appropriate and intervening doesn’t violate
confidentiality rights, they should bring the issue to the
other psychologist’s attention and try to resolve the matter
one-on-one.

If that doesn’t work or the apparent violation is serious,says the Ethics Code, the psychologist should take furtheraction appropriate to the situation. That might meanreporting the individual to a state or national committeeon professional ethics, the state licensing board orinstitutional authorities. One caveat: The standard doesn’tapply if intervening would violate confidentiality rightsor if you’ve been retained to review the psychologist’sconduct.

Psychologists, he says, should be familiar with the rulesin their own jurisdiction governing the disclosure ofconfidential information.

“Consulting an expert on your jurisdiction’s mentalhealth law can be enormously helpful,” says Behnke.

But many psychologists don’t know the law in theirstates, says Westbrook.

Oregon, for example, has a law requiring psychologists
to report unethical behavior. But when the Oregon
Colleague Assistance Committee surveyed Oregon
Psychological Association members, the group found
that nearly three-quarters erroneously thought that they
were required to report unethical behavior revealed
in the context of a therapeutic relationship, whether
psychotherapy or a peer review group. Instead, says
Westbrook, privilege trumps the duty to report unethical
behavior. Plus, many psychologists weren’t aware that
Oregon has a law protecting people from civil actions if
they report health professionals to regulatory boards in
good faith.

New resources

Because the issues are so tricky, ACCA suggests that every
SPTA create a colleague assistance program or at the very
least appoint an individual or task force to review state
laws related to the duty to report unethical behavior,
privilege and peer review issues, and consult with a mental
health attorney familiar with the state’s laws. Only 26 of